I will be posting about my kale chip experiment soon. I have read and heard many good things about kale chips, so when I saw the organic kale is $1.50/bunch this week at New Flower Market, I decided to get some. I have two “recipes” – one that you can make in the oven and one that you can make in a dehydrator. I tried the oven method today and think I over oiled them, but some were good. I am going to try the dehydrator method on Sunday and will post a comparison with photos.

When another mother and I met with a Dallas-area Whole Foods store ambassador about food allergies a few weeks ago, she gave us a tour of the produce area. She told us about all the health benefits of kale (better than spinach, she said), and she gave us a small piece to try. It was interesting, but not something I would eat raw very regularly. The kale chips were much more tolerable. Best of all, my daughter LOVED them.

I price-checked produce at Sam’s Club this week to see if I could buy any of these items at a lower cost, but Sam’s was just as expensive or more expensive than the grocery stores! That is not always the case though. I am going to try to hit Sam’s and possibly Costco occasionally to see if buying in bulk will be cheaper. While I will not be covering the warehouse clubs’ prices regularly, I will post any deals I find there.

I am now trying to buy organic whenever possible. For example, I am only buying organic apples since I have read that apples are on the “dirty dozen” list of of produce where it makes the most sense to go organic. I figure if we’re going to do this diet to see if it helps my daughter’s health, then we might as well avoid eating those foods with higher concentrations of pesticide residues. I will include conventional and organic produce in the comparison chart so you can decide where to go based on your preferences. I will create three graphical icons to indicate if produce is:

– Organic
– Locally-grown (“Texas”)
– USA-grown

but for now I just used symbols in the spreadsheet (the symbol meanings are in the footer of each page).

Please keep in mind that stores do not always list the size of the produce. For example, avocados are usually “small” or “large” but the ads don’t always specify. So it will be difficult to know for sure which store has the best price. Whenever possible, I will check on sizes in person and will update the chart.

And last but not least, this is a work-in-progress. This week, I am posting just a PDF download of the chart. In future weeks, I will pull out the best deals and post a summary with a link to the full download.

Please let me know what you like or dislike about this format. And if you stop by a store and find additional produce on sale that is not advertised, please let me know and I will update this list. I plan to do similar comparisons for meat/seafood, nuts and dairy soon.

Enjoy Life Boom-Choco Boom Chocolate Bars – $0.74
Price: $1.29
Coupon: $0.55/1 – printable coupon at bottom of the page. There is also a $0.75/2 printable coupon hereThese are great for kids and adults with food allergies!

Wednesday, November 4 ONLY is Double Ad Day, meaning you can get last week’s deals and this week’s deals on the same day. Since I didn’t do match ups, here is a quick list of the best produce deals I see: